Chapter 3

• The setting in Chapter 3 does not change. Structurally after the intrusion of Curley and Carlson we are back to George and Slim
• Pg 41,42 pt 1:

  • "Hardly none of the guys ever travel together. I hardly never seen two guys travel together" This point made by Slim reinforces the stereotypical selfish rancher lifestyle.
  • "They don't give a damn about nobody"
  • Isolation, loneliness the reason why the it's set in Soledad
  • "I knowed her Aunt Clara" Linking George and Lennie because knowing Lennie's aunt, not necessarily the truth. Shows that George cares for Lennie as a companion even though they are not family.
• Pg 42 pt 2:

  • They don't feel lonely as they have eachothers backs unlike the typical ranch workers, even being surrounded by other ranch workers is lonely as they are all competing with eachother.
  • George takes responsibilty for all the mean stuff he has done to Lennie, beating the hell out of him "I've beat the hell outta him and he coulda bust every bone in ma body with his hands, but he never lifted a finger against me"
  • George only beats up Lennies as he was going through a lot with having to support Lennie, because he was suffering he wanted someone to blame
• Pg 42 pt 3:

  • Context: Time the novella was set in had a boom for racist clans like the KKK
  • Risky to show George beating up Lennie as he's opposing his altruistic nature. "George's voice was taking on the tone of confession" confessing his sins to Slim as if he is a God.
  • If George is one of the main characters we would not want to support him when learning that he has abused Lennie in the past but as he's confessing we see that he has learnt from his mistakes so that he can rectify them. Changed from being a bully to being like a brother.
• Pg 42 pt 4:

  • Realism- not everyone is perfect, George conveys this but eventually regrets his actions and decides to help Lennie instead. Highlighting that people can become better and learn from their mistakes.
• Pg 43 pt 1:

  • Through Slim Steinbeck is conveying that people tend to exploit others in position of power, problems of the American Dream; "Take a real smart guy and he ain't hardly ever a nice guy. Smart people are at the top of society, powerful people exploit people with less power.
  • George talks to Slim about what happens in Weed through George's confession "Guy (George) don't need to no sense to be a nice fella. Seems to me sometimes it just works the other way around."
• Pg 43 Incident In Weed:

  • Lennie grabs a girls red dress, cannot let go as he is so scared, foreshadowing Lennie grabbing and squashing Curley's hand and killing Curley's wife, all through fear. Slim: "I can see Lennie ain't a bit mean"
  • Lennie doesn't understand the mean and unfortunate society he is involved in. Girl in Weed tells police that Lennie raped her but that was a lie so a few men went out to want to kill lennie so they ran and hid. Girl says Lennie raped her because Lennie is a big guy, because of society rape, robberies to take place often.
• Pg 44 Incident in Weed :

  • Lynch mobs : Vigilantes who take the law in their own hands, murdering criminals without trial ordered out by the Sheriff.
  • "that girl rabbits and tells the law she been raped. Guys in Weed start a party out to lynch Lennie. So we sit in an irrigation ditch under water all the rest of the day"
• Pg 45/46:

  • Lennie gets a pup to show he's like a kid, foreshadowing Lennie squishing the pup. Juxtaposes puppies with Candy's dog: pups are the hope, start of life whilst Candy's dog is failure, end of life. Pups need mother to live and Candy's dog nees Candy to live. Both are vulnerable and need support to survive. George also needs Lennie to survive.
• "She slang her pups last night, nine of them. I drowned 4 of them right off. She couldn't feed that many. This is the notion of the survival of the fittest, to maintain them all it will be too much time and effort. Big strong dogs will always be wanted, small weak ones will always be abandoned. In effect Slim carries out a mercy killing, euthanasia.
• Pg 44:

  • "i socked him over the head with a fence picket to make him let go" takes getting hit in the head by a lump of wood to let go, fear
• Pg 47 pt 1:

  • "Best damn sheep dog I ever seen" Conveys the loyalty and companionship between Candy and his old dog tying his dog with Lennie as they are both good workers and good companions.
  • Connects the American Dream and Survival of the Fittest, everything in the American Dream is designed to make you better than everyone else so you can get to the top. If you operate on natural selection, companionships will be lost.
  • In a good society, working together is better than being primal.
• Pg 48 pt 1:

  • Slim is the mouthpiece of Steinbeck however he tells Candy that "that dog ain't no good to himself" As Slim is basically the prince, Candy cannot challenged him. Looking at the fact that even Slim has flaws.
  • "I wish'd somebody'd shoot me if I get old" -Slim, he knows in this society Candy's dog won't be supported as much. Pushing the idea of a pessimistic outlook as being common. Everything goes wrong if people don't support eachother.
• Pg 57:

  • Slim versus Curley fight deemed possible making all the workers excited so everybody leaves with only George, Lennie and Candy remaining to talk about their dream. It seems achievable as all the other ranchers portraying society all leave. Then once all the ranchers come back in pg 59, society comes back to destroy their dreams.
• Pg 59:

  • "A guy can go in and get druink and get everything out his system all at once and no messes. And he knows how much it's gonna set him back. These jailbaits is just set on the trigger of the hoosegow" Statement suggests workers never in relationships and don't earn enough money, always travelling.
  • "Jailbait" Curley wife is a jailbait as if they engage with her they will get into trouble with Curley.
  • Relationships are expensive but workers are metaphorically in a relationship with work because all they think about is work but it is just for them to survive.
• Pg 60-61:

  • In depth description of their dream. George uses syndetic lists to make dream seem bigger, emphasising each and every point, like he's making it up in his head.
  • Unrealistic expectations - "We can work 6.7 hours a day" This is not really a dream as they still have to work long hours. "Wouldn't have to buck barley 11 hours a day" Typical migrant hardships.
  • Showing Lennies aggresive side "I'll break their goddamn necks" preempts him breaking Curley's wife neck. The reason why their dream is destroyed
• Pg 62:

  • George is so caught up in the dream that his imagination potentially becomes real when Candy speaks. However he is on guard immediately as he is so used to being competitive with each other other as if Candy would steal their dream, cannot trust people. This behaviour is typical for lonely people.
  • "You couldn't find it in 100 years." After talking about George breaking rabbits necks preemtping death of Curley's wife Candy joins in making the dream more achievable juxtaposing the previous few points.
• Pg 62 pt 2:

  • By dropping the "old" in Candy's name George is using an epithet using old builds up a sterotype of being useless, reiterating that he's past his past. Dropping the epithet shows the dream could be achievable and he could become young again.
  • In pg 101 George switches back by calling Candy as "old Candy" confirming that the dream is over.